New Year's Day is creeping up on us, and to celebrate we decided to look back on the year 2014 and its celebrity moments. It's always interesting to see what and who matters to us when it comes to entertainment news. The A-list certainly created headlines that have stuck around for weeks because they did something that blew our minds. Sometimes the reason for the headline was plain strange, sometimes it was sad, and others were shocking!
1. Rihanna returned to Instagram.
giphy
2. Emma Watson launched "HeForShe" gender equality campaign.
Giphy
3. Here Comes Honey Boo was canceled.
Giphy
The reason for it really threw us.
4. George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin got married.
Giphy
We never thought we would see the day that this bachelor settled down.
5. Robin Williams passed away.
Giphy
6. Lupita Nyong'o won "Best Supporting Actress" at the Oscars for her awesome performance in 12 Years A Slave.
Giphy
7. John Travolta totally flubbed Idina Menzel's name at the Oscars.
YouTube
8. Stephen Colbert had his final
YouTube
9. Rumor of Idris Elba being the next James Bond hit the web.
Giphy
10. Kim Kardashian's crazy "break the internet" photo shoot was revealed. Then the spoofs came in and made our life!
return-of-thepharaoh.tumblr.com
11. Jennifer Lawrence along with many other female celebrities' nude photos were leaked. We couldn't help but say...
Giphy
12. Nicki Minaj's provacative "Anaconda" video released.
Giphy
13. Solange Knowles got married.
Giphy
14. The Kimye wedding happened.
mtvuk.tumblr.com
15. How I Met Your Mother ended and we didn't know how to feel after it broke its promise to us.
Giphy
Which celebrity moments really blew your mind in 2014? Tweet us your answers using the Twitter handles below!
Follow @hollywood_com
//
Follow @nikkibernice
//

Sir Paul McCartney is set to sing on a Christmas charity single in a fundraising stunt organised by Samuel L Jackson, according to a U.K. report. The former Beatles star will front the song Jackson is putting together to raise money for testicular and prostate cancer charity One of the Boys, reports The Sun newspaper.
A number of musicians and other stars including Jennifer Hudson will loan their vocals to the cover of A Great Big World's hit Say Something.
Nicole Scherzinger and Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams joined Jackson at London's Abbey Road studios for a star-studded karaoke party in support of the charity on Thursday (25Sep14).
British model Daisy Lowe posted a video on Instagram.com of the Pulp Fiction star singing Show Me Love by Robin S.

DreamWorks
For the bulk of every Rocky and Bullwinkle episode, moose and squirrel would engage in high concept escapades that satirized geopolitics, contemporary cinema, and the very fabrics of the human condition. With all of that to work with, there's no excuse for why the pair and their Soviet nemeses haven't gotten a decent movie adaptation. But the ingenious Mr. Peabody and his faithful boy Sherman are another story, intercut between Rocky and Bullwinkle segments to teach kids brief history lessons and toss in a nearly lethal dose of puns. Their stories and relationship were much simpler, which means that bringing their shtick to the big screen would entail a lot more invention — always risky when you're dealing with precious material.
For the most part, Mr. Peabody &amp; Sherman handles the regeneration of its heroes aptly, allowing for emotionally substance in their unique father-son relationship and all the difficulties inherent therein. The story is no subtle metaphor for the difficulties surrounding gay adoption, with society decreeing that a dog, no matter how hyper-intelligent, cannot be a suitable father. The central plot has Peabody hosting a party for a disapproving child services agent and the parents of a young girl with whom 7-year-old Sherman had a schoolyard spat, all in order to prove himself a suitable dad. Of course, the WABAC comes into play when the tots take it for a spin, forcing Peabody to rush to their rescue.
Getting down to personals, we also see the left brain-heavy Peabody struggle with being father Sherman deserves. The bulk of the emotional marks are hit as we learn just how much Peabody cares for Sherman, and just how hard it has been to accept that his only family is growing up and changing.
DreamWorks
But more successful than the new is the film's handling of the old — the material that Peabody and Sherman purists will adore. They travel back in time via the WABAC Machine to Ancient Egypt, the Renaissance, and the Trojan War, and 18th Century France, explaining the cultural backdrop and historical significance of the settings and characters they happen upon, all with that irreverent (but no longer racist) flare that the old cartoons enjoyed. And oh... the puns.
Mr. Peabody &amp; Sherman is a f**king treasure trove of some of the most amazingly bad puns in recent cinema. This effort alone will leave you in awe.
The film does unravel in its final act, bringing the science-fiction of time travel a little too close to the forefront and dropping the ball on a good deal of its emotional groundwork. What seemed to be substantial building blocks do not pay off in the way we might, as scholars of animated family cinema, have anticipated, leaving the movie with an unfinished feeling.
But all in all, it's a bright, compassionate, reasonably educational, and occasionally funny if not altogether worthy tribute to an old favorite. And since we don't have our own WABAC machine to return to a time of regularly scheduled Peabody and Sherman cartoons, this will do okay for now.
If nothing else, it's worth your time for the puns.
3/5
Follow @Michael Arbeiter
//
| Follow @Hollywood_com
//

Matt Damon has taped a humiliating return to U.S. late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live! with his The Monuments Men castmates, a year after he took over the show and tied the host to a chair. The movie star famously gagged and bound comedian Kimmel, who has poked fun at Damon on the show for years, when he took control of the programme on 23 January, 2013 and chatted to the likes of Sheryl Crow, Ben Affleck, Robin Williams, Nicole Kidman, Gary Oldman, Amy Adams, Reese Witherspoon and Demi Moore as Kimmel watched on.
The Bourne Identity star's return to the show will air on Thursday night (06Feb14) and a leaked photo from the set suggests Kimmel hasn't forgiven his pal - Damon is featured at the very end of the row of his castmates, seated in a baby chair.
George Clooney, who convinced Damon he was gaining weight on the set of the film by bribing wardrobe assistants to tighten his pants, also appears on the show with The Monuments Men co-stars Bill Murray, John Goodman, Bob Balaban and Cate Blanchett.

Lions Gate via Everett Collection
When we last left our heroes, they had conquered all opponents in the 74th Annual Hunger Games, returned home to their newly refurbished living quarters in District 12, and fallen haplessly to the cannibalism of PTSD. And now we're back! Hitching our wagons once again to laconic Katniss Everdeen and her sweet-natured, just-for-the-camera boyfriend Peeta Mellark as they gear up for a second go at the Capitol's killing fields.
But hold your horses — there's a good hour and a half before we step back into the arena. However, the time spent with Katniss and Peeta before the announcement that they'll be competing again for the ceremonial Quarter Quell does not drag. In fact, it's got some of the film franchise's most interesting commentary about celebrity, reality television, and the media so far, well outweighing the merit of The Hunger Games' satire on the subject matter by having Katniss struggle with her responsibilities as Panem's idol. Does she abide by the command of status quo, delighting in the public's applause for her and keeping them complacently saturated with her smiles and curtsies? Or does Katniss hold three fingers high in opposition to the machine into which she has been thrown? It's a quarrel that the real Jennifer Lawrence would handle with a castigation of the media and a joke about sandwiches, or something... but her stakes are, admittedly, much lower. Harvey Weinstein isn't threatening to kill her secret boyfriend.
Through this chapter, Katniss also grapples with a more personal warfare: her devotion to Gale (despite her inability to commit to the idea of love) and her family, her complicated, moralistic affection for Peeta, her remorse over losing Rue, and her agonizing desire to flee the eye of the public and the Capitol. Oftentimes, Katniss' depression and guilty conscience transcends the bounds of sappy. Her soap opera scenes with a soot-covered Gale really push the limits, saved if only by the undeniable grace and charisma of star Lawrence at every step along the way of this film. So it's sappy, but never too sappy.
In fact, Catching Fire is a masterpiece of pushing limits as far as they'll extend before the point of diminishing returns. Director Francis Lawrence maintains an ambiance that lends to emotional investment but never imposes too much realism as to drip into territories of grit. All of Catching Fire lives in a dreamlike state, a stark contrast to Hunger Games' guttural, grimacing quality that robbed it of the life force Suzanne Collins pumped into her first novel.
Once we get to the thunderdome, our engines are effectively revved for the "fun part." Katniss, Peeta, and their array of allies and enemies traverse a nightmare course that seems perfectly suited for a videogame spin-off. At this point, we've spent just enough time with the secondary characters to grow a bit fond of them — deliberately obnoxious Finnick, jarringly provocative Johanna, offbeat geeks Beedee and Wiress — but not quite enough to dissolve the mystery surrounding any of them or their true intentions (which become more and more enigmatic as the film progresses). We only need adhere to Katniss and Peeta once tossed in the pit of doom that is the 75th Hunger Games arena, but finding real characters in the other tributes makes for a far more fun round of extreme manhunt.
But Catching Fire doesn't vie for anything particularly grand. It entertains and engages, having fun with and anchoring weight to its characters and circumstances, but stays within the expected confines of what a Hunger Games movie can be. It's a good one, but without shooting for succinctly interesting or surprising work with Katniss and her relationships or taking a stab at anything but the obvious in terms of sending up the militant tyrannical autocracy, it never even closes in on the possibility of being a great one.
3.5/5
Follow @Michael Arbeiter
//
| Follow @Hollywood_com
//

Has a fake Hollywood feud finally been put to rest? Basically, since Jimmy Kimmel started his late night hosting duties, he has closed nearly all of his episodes with the words, "Apologies to Matt Damon. We ran out of time." But Thursday night, Damon finally decided not to let Kimmel "run out of time" and literally took over Kimmel's entire show, marking the first Damon appearance on Kimmel as an official guest.
Kicking the show into action, Damon introduced himself and gave the show a new name. "Hey everybody. Welcome to tonight's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Sucks," he said. "I am your host, Matt Damon."
Then Damon let loose on Kimmel, who sat tied up in a chair throughout the whole show. "Just for starters... is it weird to see a person with actual talent host this show?" Damon said. "I'm very excited to be here obviously. Jimmy has bumped me from his show 1,205 times. For 10 years, every night I wait in that green room, and every night, Kimmel says, 'Apologies to Matt Damon. We ran out of time.' I've been waiting for this moment for a long, long time. This is like when I lost my virginity, except this is going to last way longer than one second."
"You know, every time I got bumped off this show, it left a mark," Damon continued. "But if you bump a man long enough, a night will come when he bumps you back. And tonight is that night, my friends. I am in command of this ship! Tonight, good triumphs over evil. I am Luke Skywalker and Kimmel is the Death Star, big and round and easily destroyed through his garbage hole." Damon had a few more jokes up his sleeve before the show officially got rolling. "Look at Jimmy over there with the gag in his mouth. You've never been funnier, my friend," he said. "Jimmy Kimmel is to late night talk show hosts what Magic Johnson is to late night talk show hosts. Hey Jimmy, did you hear the joke about Lindsay Lohan? Because I have. 1,205 times." Bam!
Along with Damon taking the hosting role, a slew of A-list celebrities appeared on Jimmy Kimmel to help Damon along.
Andy Garcia replaced Kimmel's loyal side-kick, former parking lot security guard Guillermo Diaz. Sheryl Crow also kicked band leader Cleto out of his spot.
Robin Williams finished Damon's monologue.
Damon's best childhood friend, Ben Affleck, stopped by to hold the cue cards.
And Damon had other A-list guests stop by including Amy Adams, Demi Moore, Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, and Gary Oldman. Even Jennifer Lopez, Sally Field, John Krasinski, Robert De Niro, Don Cheadle, and Oprah Winfrey check in via a video to congratulate Damon on his new role as host.
Follow Lindsey on Twitter @LDiMat.
[Photo Credit: Randy Holmes/ABC]
More:
Late Night Last Night: Allison Williams and Jimmy Kimmel Try To Be Royals
Late Night Last Night: Betty White Tries to Lie on 'Fallon' — VIDEO
Late Night Last Night: Opa! Heidi Klum Dances on Tables for Leno — VIDEO
From Our Partners:
Celebs as Kids: Guess Who? (Celebuzz)
Craziest Celebrity Swimsuits Ever (Celebuzz)

The movie star has been the butt of U.S. comedian Kimmel's jokes for a decade - and he has been bumped from imaginary appearances on the show 1,205 times, with the host often ending his programmes by claiming he had run out of time to feature Damon.
The Bourne Identity star opened the show with a fake kidnap video he had taped to promote his appearance and then took the stage with Kimmel gagged and tied to a chair behind him.
Damon said, "Welcome to tonight's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Sucks. Just for starters, let me ask you guys this - as an audience, is it weird to see a person with actual talent host this show?"
He added, "I've been waiting for this moment for a long, long time. This is like the time I lost my virginity, except this is going to last way longer than one second."
Damon then replaced Kimmel's devoted sidekick Guillermo with Andy Garcia and the host's band leader Cleto Escobedo III with Sheryl Crow before introducing Robin Williams to deliver the show's opening monologue. To make the Good Will Hunting reunion complete, the actor had longtime pal Ben Affleck step in as a cue card holder.
The Argo star, who once appeared in a comedy skit on the show as Kimmel's gay lover, pretended to be upset by the takeover and he walked out on Damon, stating, "Forget it Matt, I couldn't do it to Jimmy".
However, there were more big stars to come - Jennifer Lopez, Sally Field, Robert De Niro and Oprah Winfrey were among the celebrities who offered up video well wishes to the Saving Private Ryan actor as he continued with the show.
Winfrey said, "You have a gift, my friend. Not everybody can host a show."
Damon then tried to explain why Kimmel hated him, suggesting, "Jimmy always wanted to be an actor, and, unfortunately for him, I beat him out for every role he ever truly wanted. Jimmy has auditioned for every movie I've ever been in, every single one of them. How many did he get? None. So, he hates me."
The stand-in host then offered up skits of Kimmel trying out for roles in Good Will Hunting, The Adjustment Bureau, We Bought a Zoo, The Bourne Ultimatum, Stuck on You and Happy Feet 2, for which the comic dressed up as a penguin.
Promising another "gaggle of huge stars Jimmy Kimmel could never dream of," Damon then introduced Nicole Kidman, who has never been a guest on the show before. The actress stepped onstage, straddled the tied-up host and simulated sex with him before sitting down to chat with his replacement.
Asked why she has never guested on the show, she told Damon, "He's (Kimmel) not classy. I mean he f**king sucks!"
During the chat, Kidman admitted she would love to work with Gary Oldman, so Damon then introduced the Brit, a regular on the show.
The Dark Knight star insisted he had no recollection of ever being interviewed by Kimmel before, and when Kidman showed Oldman a photograph of the real host, he insisted it was an "impersonator".
Reese Witherspoon and Demi Moore also stopped by to take part, joining the other celebrities on the crowded sofa.
Damon left the biggest surprise until last when he introduced Kimmel's ex-girlfriend Sarah Silverman, who once teamed up with the Bourne star to film a skit video called I'm F**king Matt Damon.
The movie star ended the show by thanking his guests as Kimmel sat beside him with the word 'Loser' scrawled on his forehead in red lipstick. He offered the real host a chance to close the show with a few words, but when he motioned to take off his gag, Damon got his own back by saying, "I'm sorry, we're out of time. Good night everybody."
The stars are all set to return to Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, where the show is filmed, on Friday (25Jan13) when Kimmel unveils his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

At the moment there are few greater clichés in the media than the freaking out single woman on the cusp of 30. Of course clichés are clichés for a reason worth exploring even through the lens of just one or two women as in Lola Versus. Unfortunately while the intention behind Lola Versus isn't that we should all be happily married by the age of 30 it still fits into the same rubric of all those "Why You're Not Married" books.
Lola (Greta Gerwig) has a gorgeous fiancé Luke (Joel Kinnaman) and they live in a giant loft together the kind of dreamy NYC real estate that seems to exist primarily in the movies. Just as they're planning their gluten-free wedding cake with a non-GMO rice milk-based frosting Luke dumps her. It's cruelly sudden — although Luke isn't a cruel man. Lola finds little comfort in the acerbic wit of her best friend the eternally single Alice (Zoe Lister-Jones) who is probably delighted to see her perfectly blonde best friend taken down a peg and into the murky world of New York coupling. Lola and Luke share a best friend Henry (Hamish Linklater) a messy-haired rumpled sweetheart who is kind and safe and the inevitable shelter for Lola's fallout. Her parents well-meaning and well-to-do hippie types feed her kombucha and try to figure out their iPads and give her irrelevant advice.
Lola Versus is slippery. Its tone careens between broad TV comedy and earnest dramedy almost as if Alice is in charge of the dirty zingers and Lola's job is to make supposedly introspective statements. Alice's vulgar non-sequiturs are tossed off without much relish and Lola's dialogue comes off too often as expository and plaintive. We don't need Lola to tell Henry "I'm vulnerable I'm not myself I'm easily persuaded" or "I'm slutty but I'm a good person!" (Which is by the way an asinine statement to make. One might even say she's not even that "slutty " she's just making dumb decisions that hurt those around her just as much as she's hurting herself.)
We know that she's a mess — that's the point of the story! It's not so much that a particularly acerbic woman wouldn't say to her best friend "Find your spirit animal and ride it until its d**k falls off " but that she wouldn't say it in the context of this movie. It's from some other movie over there one where everyone is as snarky and bitter as Alice. You can't have your black-hearted comedy and your introspective yoga classes. Is it really a stride forward for feminism that the clueless single woman has taken the place of the stoner man-child in media today? When Lola tells Luke "I'm taken by myself. I've gotta just do me for a while " it's true. But it doesn't sound true and it doesn't feel true.
In one scene Lola stumbles on the sidewalk and falls to the ground. No one asks her if she's okay or needs help; she simply gets up on her own and goes on her way. It's a moment that has happened to so many people. It's humiliating and so very public but of course you just gotta pick yourself up and get where you're going. In this movie it's a head-smackingly obvious metaphor. In one of the biggest missteps of the movie Jay Pharoah plays a bartender that makes the occasional joke while Lola is waiting tables at her mom's restaurant. His big line at the end is "And I'm your friend who's black!" It would have been better to leave his entire character on the cutting room floor than attempt such a half-hearted wink at the audience.
Lister-Jones and director Daryl Wein co-wrote the screenplay for Lola Versus as they did with 2009's Breaking Upwards. Both films deal with the ins and outs of their own romantic relationship in one way or another. Breaking Upwards a micro-budget indie about a rough patch in their relationship was much more successful in tone and direction. Lola Versus has its seeds in Lister-Jones' experience as a single woman in New York and is a little bit farther removed from their experiences. Lola Versus feels like a wasted opportunity. Relatively speaking there are so few movies getting made with a female writer or co-writer that it almost feels like a betrayal to see such a tone-deaf portrayal of women onscreen. What makes it even more disappointing is how smart and likable everyone involved is and knowing that they could have made a better movie.

A kids’ movie without the cheeky jokes for adults is like a big juicy BLT without the B… or the T. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted may have a title that sounds like it was made up in a cartoon sequel laboratory but when it comes to serving up laughs just think of the film as a BLT with enough extra bacon to satisfy even the wildest of animals — or even a parent with a gaggle of tots in tow. Yes even with that whole "Afro Circus" nonsense.
It’s not often that we find exhaustively franchised films like the Madagascar set that still work after almost seven years. Despite being spun off into TV shows and Christmas specials in addition to its big screen adventures the series has not only maintained its momentum it has maintained the part we were pleasantly surprised by the first time around: great jokes.
In this third installment of the series – the trilogy-maker if you will – directing duo Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath add Conrad Vernon (director Monsters Vs. Aliens) to the helm as our trusty gang swings back into action. Alex the lion (Ben Stiller) Marty the zebra (Chris Rock) Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer) are stuck in Africa after the hullaballoo of Madagascar 2 and they’ll do anything to get back to their beloved New York. Just a hop skip and a jump away in Monte Carlo the penguins are doing their usual greedy schtick but the zoo animals catch up with them just in time to catch the eye of the sinister animal control stickler Captain Dubois (Frances McDormand). And just like that the practically super human captain is chasing them through Monte Carlo and the rest of Europe in hopes of planting Alex’s perfectly coifed lion head on her wall of prized animals.
Luckily for pint-sized viewers Dubois’ terrifying presence is balanced out by her sheer inhuman strength uncanny guiles and Stretch Armstrong flexibility (ah the wonder of cartoons) as well as Alex’s escape plan: the New Yorkers run away with the European circus. While Dubois’ terrifying Doberman-like presence looms over the entire film a sense of levity (which is a word the kiddies might learn from Stiller’s eloquent lion) comes from the plan for salvation in which the circus animals and the zoo animals band together to revamp the circus and catch the eye of a big-time American agent. Sure the pacing throughout the first act is practically nonexistent running like a stampede through the jungle but by the time we're palling around under the big top the film finds its footing.
The visual splendor of the film (and man is there a champion size serving of it) the magnificent danger and suspense is enhanced to great effect by the addition of 3D technology – and not once is there a gratuitous beverage or desperate Crocodile Dundee knife waved in our faces to prove its worth. The caveat is that the soundtrack employs a certain infectious Katy Perry ditty at the height of the 3D spectacular so parents get ready to hear that on repeat until the leaves turn yellow.
But visual delights and adventurous zoo animals aside Madagascar 3’s real strength is in its script. With the addition of Noah Baumbach (Greenberg The Squid and the Whale) to the screenwriting team the script is infused with a heightened level of almost sarcastic gravitas – a welcome addition to the characteristically adult-friendly reference-heavy humor of the other Madagascar films. To bring the script to life Paramount enlisted three more than able actors: Vitaly the Siberian tiger (Bryan Cranston) Gia the Leopard (Jessica Chastain) and Stefano the Italian Sealion (Martin Short). With all three actors draped in European accents it might take viewers a minute to realize that the cantankerous tiger is one and the same as the man who plays an Albuquerque drug lord on Breaking Bad but that makes it that much sweeter to hear him utter slant-curse words like “Bolshevik” with his usual gusto.
Between the laughs the terror of McDormand’s Captain Dubois and the breathtaking virtual European tour the Zoosters’ accidental vacation is one worth taking. Madagascar 3 is by no means an insta-classic but it’s a perfectly suited for your Summer-at-the-movies oasis.

A decade-long gap between sequels could leave a franchise stale but in the case of Men in Black 3 it's the launch pad for an unexpectedly great blockbuster. The kooky antics of Agent J (Will Smith) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) don't stray far from their 1997 and 2002 adventures but without a bombardment of follow-ups to keep the series in mind the wonderfully weird sensibilities of Men in Black feel fresh Smith's natural charisma once again on full display. Barry Sonnenfeld returns for the threequel another space alien romp with a time travel twist — which turns out to be Pandora's Box for the director's deranged imagination.
As time passed in the real world so did it for the timeline in the world of Men in Black. Picking up ten years after MIB 2 J and K are continuing to protect the Earth from alien threats and enforce the law on those who live incognito. While dealing with their own personal issues — K is at his all-time crabbiest for seemingly no reason — the suited duo encounter an old enemy Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement) a prickly assassin seeking revenge on K who blew his arm off back in the '60s. Their street fight is more of a warning; Boris' real plan is to head back in time to save his arm and kill off K. He's successful prompting J to take his own leap through the time-space continuum — and team up with a younger K (Josh Brolin) to put an end to Boris plans for world domination.
Men in Black 3 is the Will Smith show. Splitting his time between the brick personalities of Jones and Brolin's K Smith struts his stuff with all the fast-talking comedic style that made him a star in yesteryears. In present day he's still the laid back normal guy in a world of oddities — J raises an eyebrow as new head honcho O (Emma Thompson) delivers a eulogy in a screeching alien tongue but coming up with real world explanations for flying saucer crashes comes a little easier. But back in 1969 he's an even bigger fish out water. Surprisingly director Barry Sonnenfeld and writer Etan Cohen dabble in the inherent issues that would spring up if a black gentlemen decked out in a slick suit paraded around New York in the late '60s. A star of Smith's caliber may stray away from that type of racy humor but the hook of Men in Black 3 is the actor's readiness for anything. He turns J's jokey anachronisms into genuine laughs and doesn't mind letting the special effect artists stretch him into an unrecognizable Twizzler for the movie's epic time jump sequence.
Unlike other summer blockbusters Men in Black 3 is light on the action Sonnenfeld utilizing his effects budget and dazzling creature work (by the legendary Rick Baker) to push the comedy forward. J's fight with an oversized extraterrestrial fish won't keep you on the edge of your seat but his slapstick escape and the marine animal's eventual demise are genuinely amusing. Sonnenfeld carries over the twisted sensibilities he displayed in small screen work like Pushing Daisies favoring bizarre banter and elaborating on the kookiness of the alien underworld than battle scenes. MIB3's chase scene is passable but the movie in its prime when Smith is sparring with Brolin and newcomer Michael Stuhlbarg who steals the show as a being capable of seeing the future. His twitchy character keeps Smith and the audience on their toes.
Men in Black 3 digs up nostalgia I wasn't aware I had. Smith's the golden boy of summer and even with modern ingenuity keeping it fresh — Sonnenfeld uses the mandatory 3D to full and fun effect — there's an element to the film that feels plucked from another era. The movie is economical and slight with plenty of lapses in logic that will provoke head scratching on the walk out of the theater but it's also perfectly executed. After ten years of cinematic neutralizing the folks behind Men in Black haven't forgotten what made the first movie work so well. After al these years Smith continues to make the goofy plot wild spectacle and crazed alien antics look good.
="font-style:>